Track2Realty: India’s economy grew 5.7% y-o-y in Q1 2014 (April–June) beating market consensus forecasts of 5.3%, and showing signs of recovery following annual growth numbers of between 4.4% and 5.2% in each quarter between Q1 2012 and Q4 2013.
Track2Realty: The overall mall vacancy levels across the top eight India cities remained stagnant at 14.47% in Q2 2014, which was recorded around 0.4 percentage points lower compared to Q1 2014. Amongst the top eight cities, Pune witnessed sharpest decline of 2.5 percentage points due to healthy leasing activity and no new mall supply. These are the findings of Cushman & Wakefield latest report.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It was only a few years back that when a couple of high-end luxury projects were launched in Pune analysts were busy with the cost-benefit analysis of the splurge in the market. The rising interest of NRIs, HNIs and even global realty baron soon made everyone realise that Pune has already made its presence on the luxury landscape of India.
Track2Realty: The Grade A commercial office market in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) attracted an increase in demand for office space, with rental values rising across select established micro-markets during the quarter ended June 2014.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Till very recently, unlike several other industries, real estate used to take a back seat in times of a sluggish market or when there was some controversy around. Any negative market sentiment or slowdown more often than not led to newspapers’ property supplements growing thinner and vacant hoardings in and around city becoming common. Prima facie it was seen to be a sales driven exercise where real estate companies’ approach has been to advertise for selling their product and not creating a brand icon. But that seems to be only half the truth in today’s context as the sector is doling out more money for advertising despite slowdown.
Track2Realty: Following the slow market conditions of the last couple of quarters, Mumbai’s office market saw a slight spurt in market sentiments in the second quarter of 2014. The city’s overall real estate market is anticipated to fare better in the third quarter over the second quarter of the year.
Track2Realty Exclusive: It has often been argued that Indian realty needs to adopt best practices and improve brand image as the sector defends its rough ride on the learning curves. If adopting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), retaining employees, inculcating brand loyalty and earning buyers’ trust are some of the best practices that can address the perception issues of Indian real estate, then the sector has to walk a long road ahead.
Track2Realty Exclusive: IT driven locations across the country has been witness to the migration of large educated workforce, be it Bangalore, Gurgaon or Pune. This upwardly mobile, well-earning and lifestyle driven class hence becomes a key demand driver of property in the given city. In Pune the expat Indians have thus emerged as the key demand driver of property.
Track2Realty: The Union Budget 2014-15 was presented in the parliament under economic circumstances that required tax revenues to keep pace with targets. Considering the state of government finances and the current situation – below-normal monsoons, Middle East tension leading oil price volatility, the weakness of the India rupee etc., there was not much room for populism.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Reeling under compelling economic circumstances that call for financial prudence and tough measures, the first Union Budget of the NDA Government is still reason enough for the real estate sector to exude optimism. It seems the euphoria of a stable government at the Centre is running so deep that despite of the government taking certain tough economic measures before the budget itself and the Reserve Bank of India also not cutting the repo rate down in its recent monetary policy review, the sector is expecting rosy days ahead with the budget being the first catalytic point.